Jersey is “fully compliant” London audience hears

The Channel Islands’ regulatory financial services’ relationship with the EU will remain unchanged even if a ‘hard’ Brexit occurs.

That was the message delivered at the recent Esop Centre’s second British Isles symposium. Many Jersey and Guernsey trustees are members of the Centre, which promotes a “British Isles” approach.

William McGilivray of Jersey Finance said: “As the Channel Islands are not part of the UK or the EU, our relationship with the EU will remain exactly as it is now after Brexit.

“So access to the EU from a financial services perspective between Jersey and the EU will continue, unchanged after the UK exits.”

The Crown Dependencies’ formal relationship with the EU is set out in Protocol 3 of the UK’s 1972 Accession Treaty, Mr McGilivray explained. This means that Jersey and its fellow Crown Dependencies are currently within the Customs Union, providing for the free movement of goods. For financial services, however, Jersey has its own separate third country relationship with the EU.

One of the key issues is equivalency and when it comes to regulation, standards in Jersey are high Mr McGilivray told the expert audience:

“According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the EU’s own Moneyval, Jersey’s standards are higher than those in most of the G20 countries – for example in transparency and information exchange for tax and beneficial ownership information.

“In fact, just this week, the OECD Global Forum confirmed that Jersey is fully compliant with all global standards of international tax transparency.”

In a panel discussion including Katherine Neal of Ogier, Centre chairman Malcolm Hurlston CBE told members and high level guests: “Contrary to expectations the Paradise papers have enabled the most influential sources such as OECD and the Financial Times to bring a healthy perspective. The Centre has worked with the Channel Isles for over 30 years and their standards of trusteeship are second to none.”